Behind the Scenes
by THeartsQT
Summary: Po gets used to his role as Dragon Warrior behind the scenes of Kung Fu Panda 2, with the help of his friends and a few misadventures. A humorous and heartwarming series.
1. Chapter 1: Forfy 'ean 'uns!

**Hey everyone! I've been reading Kung Fu Panda fanfictions for a while now and thought it was time to write my own. Hope you enjoy, and please review!**

Snarling, she jumped far above our heads, and kicked out in a full split in mid-air, smashing the tiles. She landed gracefully, crouched like Spiderman on his landing, with only a small arosion of dust around her. Still snarling, calmly now though, somehow, she stood up and joined the ranks of the Furious Five.

"W-woah," Po pointed in awe, his voice catching. "That- is awesomely cool." He tried not to look at the chunk of tile he had picked up discreetly.

"Panda! Put that down! The only souvenirs we collect here are bloody knuckles and broken bones," Shifu said angrily.

"Oh ho ho YEAH!" He was excited beyond belief.

Little did he know what was to come.

* * *

"Firfy-nine 'ean 'uns!" Po had a hard time saying, with just that many buns stuffed in his cheeks.

"Forty," said Tigress. It was a demand, but she was smiling.

"Forty!" echoed the others; Viper, Mantis, Crane and Monkey had never seen anyone even hit ten.

Po shook his head, already at the bursting point.

"I've seen Mr Ling do forty," Tigress wheedled.

"Mr Ling? The pig?" Crane asked doubtfully.

"His cheeks aren't as big as this panda's though. Also, I think he got hungry by twenty and started eating some of the back ones… Anyway, if anyone can, it's our panda. Do it, Po."

The bun in his chopsticks already attempting to wedge its way into the crowd somewhere, Po found a spot, his cheeks burning, eyes squished by his mouth, nose buried under his bulging lip, and lowered the chopsticks cautiously. He managed to mumble, "Forfy ean uns!"

The room erupted. Any passers-by might have assumed they were pinning each other to the floor and roaring in rage. Tigress was smiling and pumping her fist. Viper was dancing around Monkey, with Mantis on his shoulder. Crane slapped Po playfully on the back with his wing.

This was a big mistake. The bean buns came shooting out like pellets, bombarding the onlookers with spit-drenched foam bullets. By the end of it, all except Crane (who had been standing behind him) and Tigress (who had deftly deflected the buns) looked like they would need a long bath and therapy to get over the incident of being doused in slobber.

"Er... " began a drenched Mantis with pieces of bun on his antennae, "We'll go wash… see you at nine for training."

"Sorry guys," Po called after them, through a mouth that was only a quarter full with ten bean buns. He gulped them down and licked his lips, sighing.

It seemed that Crane had not entirely been spared. A drip of spit was hanging from his beak, and he didn't want to open it to talk for that reason. He looked at Po, weirded out slightly, but smiled and walked out of the training hall.

"Yeesh," said Po playfully to Tigress, "If you guys were facing bandits, and the bandits poured spit on you, there's a way better chance you'd surrender than if they actually beat you up."

Tigress laughed, a single sound. She looked at him, her cat eyes turned up at the edges more than usual, her smile being so wide. They were like lights so bright it hurt to look at them, thought Po.

She sat on one of the wooden training snakes, her legs dangling. She was looking into the space down beneath it. Then suddenly something doughy and delicious-smelling was thrown to her, and she quickly cupped her hands to catch it. A bean bun. Looking at Po without turning to him, she took a bite.

And, without warning, hurled it at the lever in the corner of the training room.

The wooden training snakes rolled over themselves as Tigress dodged the overhead swinging spiked clubs and kept her balance. The bean bun she had thrown bounced back off the lever and flew into her waiting hand. She took another bite, then threw it onto one of the spikes on a swinging club. Set herself a challenge, maybe practise her jump.

Po looked on, another bean bun half chewed. Why would anyone waste a perfectly good bean bun by making themselves work for it?

Tigress followed the paths of the clubs like pendulums, counting silently when she would make her move. Then, on the fourth swing, she leapt from the moving snakes and held on to the arm of the club, her legs narrowly avoiding the spikes. She used the spikes as footholds to get on top of the club, then sat on it, 6 metres above Po. She knew how much he loved kung fu, and she knew he saw her as his idol. She'd been surprised at the time: she'd only ever seen her faults so she could improve on them, to keep getting better, and her master, Shifu had only encouraged this view. Humility, he said, was the mark of a true hero. But still, it didn't hurt to be praised for her years of devotion, you know, once in a while.

So she sat, smiling down at Po, her left leg dangling. Po was simply in awe. It felt nice to treat him like this. And treat herself to his reaction. Although she knew that if he put his mind to it, the panda could be doing exactly what she was, though perhaps with a different strategy.

She slid down, hanging on to the club arm, and climbed down the spikes to get to her half-eaten bean bun. Another club came swinging by, however, and she was knocked back down onto the snakes, landing as if she had planned it anyway. She leapt again, saw that both the club with her bean bun and another one were going to crash into her, composed herself, and bashed them aside with kicks in both directions in a split, then landed. Po was grinning now. A fanboy's dream.

The bean bun was falling though, and in the opposite direction to where Tigress had landed, due to the club's momentum before it was smashed. She'd never catch it before it hit the floor.

Then, in a few short seconds, Po had finished chewing his bean bun, untucked his chair, rolled to where the bun was falling and caught it in his chopsticks. He then looked to his perceived heroine for approval. Tigress nodded.

And in another swift move, the Dragon Warrior had transferred the bun from the grip of his chopsticks to the depths of his gut.

Tigress was taken aback; she hadn't expected him to eat it! And she had already taken two bites out of it… "Po! I'd already eaten a bit of that!"

"Huh?"

Tigress slapped her forehead with her palm. "I nodded to say, well, good job. Not to eat it."

"Oh." Then he shrugged, and said in a lofty voice, "I am honoured to have eaten from the same bean bun as the great Master Tigress. I shall treasure this moment 'til the end of all moments."

"O...k." Tigress was not sure what to say to this.

She hopped off the snake and in a flash she was at Po's bowl, hurling the last bean bun at the lever to stop the machinery, and catching it with one hand as it bounced back. She ate the whole thing in two bites this time, to avoid the risk of a certain panda consuming it.

"Hey! Tigress, I was going to eat that!"

Tigress just shrugged, the barest hint of a smile on her face. "Po, would you like me to teach you?" she asked, knowing full well that he would complete the task in far less time than she had taken to learn how.

His answer was only to be expected. "Oh ho ho YEAH!"

 **Chapter 2 is out now. Hope you liked this one!**


	2. Chapter 2: The Voice of Tigress

**Thank you, my readers! I'm so glad that within just a few minutes of the first chapter being published, 4 people viewed it! I had already written this chapter when I published the first one, so here it is. I will do my best to publish new chapters regularly, and don't forget to please review- feedback is greatly appreciated. Also, don't forget to see my other Kung Fu Panda fanfic, Christmas Kick. I'm trying to finish it before the 25th.**

"Order up!" said Po, sliding the bowls of Secret Ingredient Soup to each of the Five seated at the dinner table, leaving the last one to himself. "Soy sauce, anyone?" he asked, shaking the bottle lightly.

"Uh… yeah, thanks Po," said Mantis, and was offered the sauce. "Can I just address the elephant in the room?" Everyone looked up. "Yeah, thanks. He's standing behind you, Po."

"Huh-" Po knocked over his chair in his haste to see who was spying on him to see how much he really ate. "Mantis, where? Is he hiding? Is he wearing a disguise? Oh oh, wait. Don't tell me. Ah- he's not a he, he's a _she_ , _disguised_ as a he… or a he disguised as a she? No, no, no. Mantis, just tell me already! Where's the elephant?!"

The room chuckled collectively at his response. "Po, you're so gullible," said Tigress, a touch affectionately.

"I know, right?" was his response. "Wait- what does that mean?"

This triggered a new round of laughs.

"But Po-" Mantis laughed, "I really wanted to ask you- why did you drop your guard today at the Musician's Village? You beat Tai Lung, you beat Tigress for once yesterday during training, and she's never lost a fight-"

Tigress shook her head grimly. That one battle had cost her her reputation. She smiled slightly. But it had won her a friend.

"-and you couldn't even dodge that stupid wolf, let alone punch him. Po, something's wrong and we all know it. What's going on buddy?"

Po looked at him. He looked at Tigress, watching him expectantly. He saw Viper's concerned face and Crane with his eyebrows furrowed, Monkey with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. They all wanted to know, but while they certainly meant well, and were definitely his best friends in the universe, what he would tell them would not be anything near what they were expecting.

"Sorry guys. I gotta go," he heard himself say.

Tigress's expressionless voice broke the awkward silence. "But Po, you haven't eaten your soup."

Po paused for a while, but then pushed out his chair. Not looking at her, he repeated, "I gotta go."

Po had just been to visit his father, just found out that he wasn't who he had always thought he was. Once, before Kung Fu, whenever he felt down or misplaced or… like a panda in a village of pigs, geese and bunnies, he had always returned home. Home, to Mr. Ping's Noodle Shop, where he could be certain for once of something. He knew, in his bedroom, in the shop, that he was a panda, the son of a goose, who worked in a noodle shop and loved Kung Fu. He knew that he was Po.

But now, he was also the Dragon Warrior. He was a panda, not the son of a goose, who worked at the Jade Palace and loved noodles.

"Who am I?" he said aloud, sitting under the Sacred Peach Tree.

He was attempting to find inner peace, like Shifu had, by calming his body and relaxing his soul. The body part was done- he hadn't moved a muscle in ten minutes, which was a record for him. The soul part… not so much.

"Who am I?" he asked himself again, forcing his voice not to break, willing a tear to be sucked back into his eye, compelling his voice to be even, calm and collected. Like Tigress, he thought.

Her voice was so smooth, so clear, so deep. All the time. Each word was said as though it was her duty to make it count, and count it did. Her voice was expressionless, betraying nothing, allowing her to devote herself fully to the task at hand. She could control her emotions easily, well, if she had any to begin with, thought Po. Man, she was so _extreme_ , she didn't let anything get in her way, especially not herself.

Po sighed. He wondered how she did it, and thought that to continue his meditation session, he should speak in her voice. Calm himself.

Uncharacteristically, he slowed his breathing. " _Who am I?"_

But her voice was a little lower. And her syllables were shorter.

" _Who am I?"_ he repeated. Then he opened his eyes. For it sounded exactly like her voice. So much like it that he smiled, then sighed.

Inner peace was so far away from him. It would take a lot more than sitting, thinking and imitating to achieve it.

So the panda stood up with a grunt, picked up a peach, and made his way back to the student barracks.

 **I hope you all liked this chapter! If you did, add it to your favourites so you won't miss the next update (which will be around next week).**


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